Should be an interesting season and looking forward to seeing how our new giant signings perform. Don't think we'll be getting knocked off the ball so easily.
Really getting a decent squad (on paper at least) now. In reality, 'on paper' is all anyone, including the bookies, has to go on. Which makes our status as second favourites to go down look even more ludicrous by the day.
Think we need one more defender who can cover right back and centre back. And a winger (James Henry please).
Maybe a striker, but thats fully depended on Igor's fitness. Would be happier having him fully fit, then we are fine.
I'm quietly optimistic. Would be nice if we are a consistent high mid table this season instead of a fantastic start, dismall middle and fantastic end like last season.
I don't know anywhere near enough about the new players, but as stated by someone on another thread we have some really experienced defenders and midfielders who have joined us, albeit not played in the Championship. I placed a couple of bets last week based on what I saw Luzon was bringing in, so therefore I'm hopeful of -: At least a top half finish (11/4), Promotion (22/1), winning the league or coming in Top 3 (100/1, (1/4 odds for 2nd or 3rd)). My one concern is the strikers need to step up and bang the goals in, I hope BIG Simon can use his height and score a few.
That we play some good attacking football like before the team went on it's extended summer holiday this year. That there are no humiliations like at Watford last season. That we post one or two (or even more, if I'm being greedy) big scores. That there is consistent effort from the first to the last match.
I've gone from pessimism to real curiosity/optimism given our signings. We certainly can't moan about inactivity in the market any more. The million dollar question) are whether our new guys are any good/capable of playing English championship football/can be fashioned quickly into a functioning team. None of us know the answer to those but I'm certainly looking forward to the first half a dozen or so games until we have a clear idea. The few bob subsidiary questions which are nevertheless interesting are: can JC push on and become a mainstay, are we going to get the TW that so captivated us in January or the fat bloke with the dodgy barnet we saw on Saturday/who is the next wunderkid from the juniors/will GL be as barkingly entertaining as last year etc?
1. Consistency of form. No wild ups and downs. 2. One of the new signings to become a proper fans' favourite. Through goalscoring, ideally, but will settle for running-into-the-ground dedication to the cause. 3. A top-half finish, preferably with a play-off push sustained into April.
Feels like we're all crying out for a renewed sense of connection with the club. A strong, improving performance and a few players who wear their hearts on their sleeves would definitely do it for me. Up the Addicks!
whatever happens this season, hats off to RD / KM and the rest of the board for backing Guy.
we seem to have a pretty decent looking squad at the moment, young and all on long contracts and the squad now (on paper) has certainly exceeded my expectations.
whether they all work out or not is the million dollar question...I've a sneaky suspicion we'll surprise a few
I will maintain an attitude of pessimism as I do for every season but I will have like all real fans of football league sides a nagging feeling of hope that maybe just maybe we can do this. that feeling will never be shown in public and I will dismiss all our chances until I am confidently sure of a positive outcome. never count your chickens and all that.
whatever happens this season, hats off to RD / KM and the rest of the board for backing Guy.
we seem to have a pretty decent looking squad at the moment, young and all on long contracts and the squad now (on paper) has certainly exceeded my expectations.
whether they all work out or not is the million dollar question...I've a sneaky suspicion we'll surprise a few
With special thanks to Joe Gomez for funding it all
whatever happens this season, hats off to RD / KM and the rest of the board for backing Guy.
we seem to have a pretty decent looking squad at the moment, young and all on long contracts and the squad now (on paper) has certainly exceeded my expectations.
whether they all work out or not is the million dollar question...I've a sneaky suspicion we'll surprise a few
I agree.
Long term deals for your assets means you are less likely to lose them for nothing or very little (Poyet, Hamer, Yann etc)
Long term deals for your assets means stability (assuming they settle in SE London) and the chance to build a team without key players worrying about next season's pay packet.
Only Cousins to wrap up now. And Igor and Hendo to get fit.
A word of caution though.
I go into every season thinking "we could do it, you know, this might just be our year" but so do fans of every club.
Other clubs have strengthened also, sometimes spending bigger than us to add to already strong squads.
So this won't be a free ride.
But who cares. The football is nearly here, Charlton are playing in red, at the Valley, the Red Red Robin is still being played and we are going to have a go.
That's enough for now. After 10 games we can re-evaluate the summer signings, hopefully upward.
Need to get Henry in and another centre half. After that it will all depend on how the strikers settle and perform. I think we need another striker in as Igor still has question marks over his fitness. Means that we would have to go through long periods with just Watt and Makienok which doesn't allow for dips in form and confidence. If we can get the goals going early though we might be a real force.
I'm genuinely optimistic. OK, it's only 'on paper', but the signings look promising, and after the shambolic start, I've got faith in our scouting/acquisition - Igor, JBG, Watt, Diarra have been good signings so every reason to feel the new lads can do the business.
Quite a few pundits got it wrong in 2011-12, when they totally underestimated the quality of our squad strengthening, and overestimated the difficulty of getting a new team/squad to gel - in the first 20 minutes of the 1st game (Bournemouth) we looked like a team that had played with eachother for months. Likewise 85-86 - again the incoming players all looked useful, something to prove and an upgrade on what we had before.
For sure it would have been ever better had we kept Joe, but it all feels like a good step up from where we were a month ago.
We are heading in the right direction , i think we have a much better team (hopefully) than 12 months ago, but i'm not convinced ( as yet) that we are going to score a lot more goals, unless we bag another decent striker, so pushing it maybe top 10 , but this could all change in a week or two if we sign another couple of decent players.
We have a tough start to the season, and have last seasons 1st choice striker and goalie unavailable , so unless we seriously push the boat out , with another decent striker, keeper, and wing man, we're going to find it very tough, despite the good work thats been done in the transfer market.
Think we will start slow as we've not really had too much time to bed the new players in. But on paper we have a very strong best 11 ... By far the best we've had since being back in the championship, how the bookies still have us at longer odds than the likes Huddersfield, mk dons , Preston and Birmingham is beyond me
whatever happens this season, hats off to RD / KM and the rest of the board for backing Guy.
we seem to have a pretty decent looking squad at the moment, young and all on long contracts and the squad now (on paper) has certainly exceeded my expectations.
whether they all work out or not is the million dollar question...I've a sneaky suspicion we'll surprise a few
I agree.
Long term deals for your assets means you are less likely to lose them for nothing or very little (Poyet, Hamer, Yann etc)
Long term deals for your assets means stability (assuming they settle in SE London) and the chance to build a team without key players worrying about next season's pay packet.
Only Cousins to wrap up now. And Igor and Hendo to get fit.
A word of caution though.
I go into every season thinking "we could do it, you know, this might just be our year" but so do fans of every club.
Other clubs have strengthened also, sometimes spending bigger than us to add to already strong squads.
So this won't be a free ride.
But who cares. The football is nearly here, Charlton are playing in red, at the Valley, the Red Red Robin is still being played and we are going to have a go.
That's enough for now. After 10 games we can re-evaluate the summer signings, hopefully upward.
Live, Love, Laugh and Be Happy.
Hmmm...let's wait and see. To me it seems as though the strategy with lots of our signings is to sign youngish players who have potential on decent length deals and then use Charlton as a shop window to give them first team experience and flog them once a decent bid comes in.
Not saying it's a bad strategy, it might not even be the strategy at all, but I'm not sure that's the same as stability if it is.
I'm not sure why but I'm not as overwhelmingly positive as most others seem to be about these signings, although I can't deny many come with good pedigree from their youth team days. It's mainly because I would be incredibly suprised if these seven signings, none of whom have experience of the Championship, most of whom have never lived in England and most of whom have very little experience of first team football at all, hit the ground running - but I certainly hope they do.
Let's hope this where the road gets smoother and the only bumps we can see are in the rear view mirror.
Let's hope so.
Doesn't mean that the ride hasn't been bumpy for the past season and a half because it clearly has.
Doesn't mean that mistakes weren't made, especially in previous player and management recruitment because they clearly were
Doesn't mean that communication couldn't have been better because it clearly could have been, and still could.
Doesn't mean that fans were wrong to express their doubts and concerns because in nearly all cases they were genuine doubts and concerns and came from people caring deeply for their club.
But if people point out mistakes they should also comment on the good such as the pitch, the stadium and now an approx £4.5m investment in player fees this summer (Guestimate) even if some or all of that has been recouped by selling Gomez and perhaps Wiggins and Polish Pete.
and we don't know yet if these players will do the business or what other bumps there will be in the road ahead but at least we can look down that road optimistically and with some new players to take us on the trip.
Comments
Think we need one more defender who can cover right back and centre back.
And a winger (James Henry please).
Maybe a striker, but thats fully depended on Igor's fitness. Would be happier having him fully fit, then we are fine.
So really, 2 more players and we are done.
I'm quietly optimistic. Would be nice if we are a consistent high mid table this season instead of a fantastic start, dismall middle and fantastic end like last season.
MillwallFulhamThat there are no humiliations like at Watford last season.
That we post one or two (or even more, if I'm being greedy) big scores.
That there is consistent effort from the first to the last match.
A better summer than I anticipated.
2. One of the new signings to become a proper fans' favourite. Through goalscoring, ideally, but will settle for running-into-the-ground dedication to the cause.
3. A top-half finish, preferably with a play-off push sustained into April.
Feels like we're all crying out for a renewed sense of connection with the club. A strong, improving performance and a few players who wear their hearts on their sleeves would definitely do it for me. Up the Addicks!
we seem to have a pretty decent looking squad at the moment, young and all on long contracts and the squad now (on paper) has certainly exceeded my expectations.
whether they all work out or not is the million dollar question...I've a sneaky suspicion we'll surprise a few
Long term deals for your assets means you are less likely to lose them for nothing or very little (Poyet, Hamer, Yann etc)
Long term deals for your assets means stability (assuming they settle in SE London) and the chance to build a team without key players worrying about next season's pay packet.
Only Cousins to wrap up now. And Igor and Hendo to get fit.
A word of caution though.
I go into every season thinking "we could do it, you know, this might just be our year" but so do fans of every club.
Other clubs have strengthened also, sometimes spending bigger than us to add to already strong squads.
So this won't be a free ride.
But who cares. The football is nearly here, Charlton are playing in red, at the Valley, the Red Red Robin is still being played and we are going to have a go.
That's enough for now. After 10 games we can re-evaluate the summer signings, hopefully upward.
Live, Love, Laugh and Be Happy.
Quite a few pundits got it wrong in 2011-12, when they totally underestimated the quality of our squad strengthening, and overestimated the difficulty of getting a new team/squad to gel - in the first 20 minutes of the 1st game (Bournemouth) we looked like a team that had played with eachother for months. Likewise 85-86 - again the incoming players all looked useful, something to prove and an upgrade on what we had before.
For sure it would have been ever better had we kept Joe, but it all feels like a good step up from where we were a month ago.
We have a tough start to the season, and have last seasons 1st choice striker and goalie unavailable , so unless we seriously push the boat out , with another decent striker, keeper, and wing man, we're going to find it very tough, despite the good work thats been done in the transfer market.
Not saying it's a bad strategy, it might not even be the strategy at all, but I'm not sure that's the same as stability if it is.
I'm not sure why but I'm not as overwhelmingly positive as most others seem to be about these signings, although I can't deny many come with good pedigree from their youth team days. It's mainly because I would be incredibly suprised if these seven signings, none of whom have experience of the Championship, most of whom have never lived in England and most of whom have very little experience of first team football at all, hit the ground running - but I certainly hope they do.
Doesn't mean that the ride hasn't been bumpy for the past season and a half because it clearly has.
Doesn't mean that mistakes weren't made, especially in previous player and management recruitment because they clearly were
Doesn't mean that communication couldn't have been better because it clearly could have been, and still could.
Doesn't mean that fans were wrong to express their doubts and concerns because in nearly all cases they were genuine doubts and concerns and came from people caring deeply for their club.
But if people point out mistakes they should also comment on the good such as the pitch, the stadium and now an approx £4.5m investment in player fees this summer (Guestimate) even if some or all of that has been recouped by selling Gomez and perhaps Wiggins and Polish Pete.
and we don't know yet if these players will do the business or what other bumps there will be in the road ahead but at least we can look down that road optimistically and with some new players to take us on the trip.
league; a push for play offs would be nice.